Eros had never been in a casino before. But, when he stepped onto red carpeting, heard the rhythmic chime of slot machines and smelled cigar smoke so ingrained in the rugs it couldn't have been scrubbed out, he knew exactly where he was.
This was just like in Ocean's 8! Eros recalled the heist film as he walked through the main floor of the casino. He had built himself a projector, one capable of parsing the scratched CDs he had bought off the black market. He knew none of the faces, but the characters, the scenes, they all played vividly in his head as he crossed carpeted halls to the elevators.
Remus must have been someone of importance. Everywhere, Eros felt the burn of the security guards' gazes, the little red lights that signaled a camera was recording. He was being watched, and though he had nothing on him that placed him as a suspect, he could not help but feel nervous for a crime he did not do.
The nerves came in waves. One moment, he was anxiously tapping at his pockets just in case something illegal materialized in there. The next, he was mesmerized by flashing, cartoonish portraits of beautiful women, of majestic jungles and cultures of all sorts, cultures he only knew from the movies.
"Play me! Win big!" screeched one of the machines. It startled him, and he jumped back into one of the clientele hunched over a blackjack table. Chips spilled onto the floor and the man berated Eros.
"I'm so sorry sir!" Eros said, holding his hands up placatingly as the man's cheeks reddened with anger.
Posted 07-23-2023, 09:57 PM
Things We Do in the Shadows
